Heads up Advertising.

I know these trying financial times are hard on everybody, and sometimes it can lead to some really out of the box thinking where matters of money are concerned. God knows how many hair-brained schemes I have kicked to the curb after thinking over what seemed to be a good idea at the time.

Well here’s another one that isn’t going to hold water in the long run, but thankfully it isn’t mine!

German tattoo artist Thomas Tanriverdi had felt the pinch of the economic downturn and wracked his brain for a solution for his financial woes. After much thought he came up with what at first surely seemed to be a foolproof plan? Rent the only place on his body not covered in tats for advertisement.

Now if your already a well known figure in the public eye this would probably be a quick windfall, but as Thomas soon found out no one is going to pay mega-bucks to have an advertisement tattooed onto the head of an unknown soldier.

Tanriverdi had hoped to earn around 50,000 euros, $65,700 in American dollars, from any bidder who wanted to have their ad tattooed onto his shiny head. After the first few days of bidding on a large online auction Web site, the highest offer was 355 euros!

Still, I have to give it to the guy for sticking to his guns. Undaunted, Thomas then lowered his asking price to 500 euros for anyone willing to advertise on his head for a year. “Others have, with bravura, auctioned their skin for advertising purposes,” Tanriverdi said. He has also since modified the offer further with prices such as: for 4,000 euros, his scalp can be yours for three years, or for 18,000 euros or to own the space until the end of his life.

Somehow I don’t think he has thought this all the way through, yet. Nadine Peukert, a dermatologist at the University Hospital in Muenster, says the idea of tattooing one’s head with the intention of removing the artwork by laser and tattooing anew is not only painful, it’s stupid. “It’s not like using an eraser,” Peukert told German news agency DPA. “Afterwards, the skin will look different, and on the scalp, this could easily lead to scarring.”

Not to mention that the cost of laser tattoo removal typically ranges between $250 and $850! Even at the lowest cost of 500 euros comes out to $648.55. After the cost of around $400 to remove the tat, assuming it isn’t so small you would need a magnifying glass to see it, that’s only $248.55 dollars profit for the entire year!